Isis gunmen kill 32, injure dozens in Kabul
Gunmen opened fire yesterday at a ceremony in Afghanistan’s capital attended by prominent political leaders, killing at least 32 people and wounding dozens more before the two attackers were slain by police, officials said.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its website.
Isis militants have declared war on Afghanistan’s Shiites, and many of those at the ceremony were from the minority Shiite sect. The ceremony commemorated the 1995 slaying of Abdul Ali Mazari, the leader of Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazaras, who are mostly Shiite Muslims.
The Taliban said they were not involved in the attack, which came less than a week after the US and the group signed an ambitious peace deal that lays out a path for the withdrawal of American forces from the country.
Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said 32 people were killed and 81 wounded in the attack in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood of Kabul. The Health Ministry gave the same death toll but said 58 were wounded. All the casualties were civilians, Rahimi said.
Opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah, the country’s chief executive and a top contender in last year’s presidential election, was among several prominent political officials who attended the ceremony but left before the attack and were unhurt.
Karim Khalili, the chief of Afghanistan’s high peace council, was delivering a speech when the gunfire interrupted him. He was not hurt.
The gunmen were then involved in a five-hour standoff with security forces before being killed.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the violence and reiterated “that attacks against civilians are unacceptable and those who carry out such crimes must be held accountable”.
Isis claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack in Kabul last year, when a suicide bomber killed 63 and wounded 182 Shiite Hazaras at a wedding.
Any US troop pullout from Afghanistan would be tied in part to promises by the Taliban to fight terrorism and Isis.